


Home Alone - Menageries vs Rogue Edition

by Johnsdatter



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Home Alone Inspired Shenanigans, References to Home Alone Movies, that's basically it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:15:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28328130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Johnsdatter/pseuds/Johnsdatter
Summary: It's a few days before christmas, all tech and most electricity in Gotham is out for the count, and Wayne Manor is empty. Or at least it should be, but by a strange set of circumstances, while most of the family is in Africa for a holiday vacation, Damian Wayne is stuck at home caring for his animals the best he can without working credit or debit cards only having limited amounts of cash on hand. Not knowing about the boy, several of Gotham's rogues decide to cash in a payday and make their way to Wayne Manor.Damian Wayne is very sick from his walks to town for animal food every day, and he's certainly never seen this Home Alone movie, but he's not a quitter and so it's his greatest showdown yet. Damian Wayne and his menagerie of pets that even his family don't know about vs several villains who could compromise everything without the Manor's defences up.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 27





	Home Alone - Menageries vs Rogue Edition

**Author's Note:**

> MERRY CHRISTMAS HAVE OBVLIVIOUS SICK DAMIAN AND HIS PETS KICKING THREE VILLIANS ASSES!

“I can’t believe Father forgot me.” Damian was pacing in the study. “And nothing’s working.” he muttered, trying his phone again but the blackout was not working with him. There’d been a blackout but due to it there’d also been the issue that all cell towers got taken out and so far there was no luck in repairing them. So no cell service, no wifi, and while there was electricity now, he even couldn’t reach his Father’s personal satellite for some ungodly reason. He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “This is the worst situation I could imagine. I was supposed to be in africa enjoying the animals but I’m stuck here with no way to contact anyone.” he rubbed his face. “I can take care of myself but the animals need their food and I use the debit card for those, but those are still not working to my knowledge.” he rubbed his temples, far more worried about his pets than himself before gasping. The room he had them in, it didn’t have a backup generator and it was four days before christmas, meaning it was very very cold. Running and grabbing his coat and forgoing the rest of his winter clothes he ran out and manually opened the door to his barn, hearing mewls as soon as he did. “Oh mes chers.” he murmured, kneeling in the snow to reach out for the litter of kittens he’d taken in two weeks ago, they were only 5 weeks so they’d been abandoned as babies and it broke his heart to see them in such a sorry state. “I am so sorry, you must be freezing.” he gathered them up in his arms and put them back in the basket he’d gotten to transport them and put his jacket on top before picking it up and wrapping a hand under Batcow’s chin, getting her to come along with him easily and they tracked through the snow. He got them inside and put the kittens and cow in his bedroom for the time before leaving with harnesses with Titus at his heels and Alfred watching the kittens as he often did now.

Once he got back he went to where the larger cats were hiding in a different section of the barn, both curled together for warmth at the moment. “miaj trezoroj, come on, you need to get out of here.” he opened a large blanket on the ground and gave two sharp whistles. His albino lion cub that he rescued with his black jaguar from a black market ring ran over first, putting a paw on his leg. “Hello Lune, you’ll need to stick close to Baheera, ok?” her tried to roar and it took everything Damian had not to melt. The jaguar in question had gotten up and come over to lick Damian’s cheek before grabbing the back of the cub’s scruff and waiting. “Good job Baheera, now-” Damian felt his snake coming over and reached a hand out, letting the snake who’d been cuddling with the cats for warmth curl around his shoulders and upper arm under the coat he’d put back on. Then he lead the cats back, already having whistled and sent Goliath into the manor’s attic. Once everyone was settled in his room he was proud no one was fighting, but glanced over and frowned. “Alright, who’s got the Batrodents?” he looked at each animal. “Come on I know they’re here somewhere, spill.” Batcow mooed and looked to Titus who barked and paws the book shelf. Damian went over it and clicked his tongue. Two white mice and a dark gray chinchilla emerged from towards the top shelf and he took his jacket off, putting it on the ground. Damian reached up for the pets and first got the mice in his palm, putting them in his shirt pockets, before reaching up and waiting. “Come on little one, it’s alright. No one will eat you, you know that.” he waited until she hopped closer and held her to his chest, petting her until she was calm before putting her on his shoulder. He examined his room and sighed. “I really need to figure out what to do about the lack of technology right now.” he muttered to himself, scratching his hair.

In the end he set up the animals in different rooms, Batcow was in the ballroom with her hay, Alfred and the kittens Richard, Timothy, Jason, Stephanie, and Cassandra were in Grayson’s room. He put Ayame in Drake’s room as it somehow held heat the best and was often too hot for the others but he liked it hot, so it was perfect for the boa. In Todd’s room he put Lune and Baheera, knowing the older jaguar to keep her little brother out of trouble. Then Titus and Ace stayed with him for the most part, sometimes leaving to check on the other animals, but the rodents he had a bit more trouble with. Damian had rescued the two mice from Ayame a while back and once he made sure they were safe, they’d been keeping to his room and gave Baby Girl a friend. Baby Girl has abandonment issues though, her last owner had died and her bitch of a daughter hadn’t wanted it, so she’d taken it to an alley and thrown it into the alley. Damian had gotten the license plate and went to give her a real scare she deserved for it later, but he’d taken the injured little ball of fluff home first and found out she already had a name, so he continued to call her Baby Girl. but she was shy, the only one she was comfortable about was himself and Alfred, both the cat and the person, so Damian got her a litter box she knew to use and put her up in the butler’s currently empty room. So with all that done, he took the Batman Harley and Pamela with him in his pocket to see about getting money pulled to buy what he needed manually with a small wad of cash he had on him just in case it didn’t work out.

It was two days later when he went out again for the third time, he was out buying more food with what was the last of his cash that day. Normally he had enough food for all his pets that lasted a week, but nothing had arrived on monday the day he was supposed to leave with the others so he’d been out daily to try and get enough food to keep everyone satisfied. The only one that was eating like normal was Batcow and that was because her hay held up for a lot longer than a week so she had plenty of hay at the moment. He lugged the packaged of meat back to the manor on foot, it wasn’t that hard considering a lot of his training growing up, but it was annoying. Despite his jacket he wore he could feel himself coming down with something. It wasn’t a parka because he hated parkas, but clearly he might have to suck it up if he wanted to not get sick next year if a similar event occurred. Now though, due to the fact that his favorite warm jacket wasn’t a parka, he felt himself starting to come down with a cold. And going by how he felt each day, being out in the snow for so much time was doing nothing for his health. When it broke it would be bad, he guessed it would be some time that or the next day. But that wasn't really his concern, it was that it was now the day before Christmas Eve with still no communication in or through the city that wasn’t hand delivered or verbally given, and he was a bit worried. Not even a police officer had come to check on Wayne Manor during this time, which meant one of a couple things, that Father just somehow couldn’t get a message through into Gotham that his 13 year old son was home alone in this mess. Another option was that he somehow hadn’t noticed, which meant he didn’t care enough to notice, but he was the world’s greatest detective so Damian tried to rule that one out. But the last one ate at him horribly, and he was  _ sure _ that it wouldn’t be possible, there’s way Father or anyone else would not even try to contact him, would just leave him and see what happened while they were gone. He walked in through a door in the batcave for a singular person entrance (which was the only one that was working properly) with his groceries, happy at the warmth that he quickly felt.

Putting the bags down he stretched his arms and breathed out, rubbing his arms while controlling his breaths. He couldn’t let this sickness get him yet, not yet. But he was hot all the time, hot and cold and he didn’t want to even move. “Damn cold, making me feel weak.” he muttered, breathing into his gloves to help warm his hands. “Stupid snow, I never want to see any ever again.” he fell silent as his previous thoughts picked up again, be bit them back. “No, stop making me think things like that, I’m wanted here. This is the only place I’m wanted.” he put his hands to his face, whispering to himself. “They didn’t leave me behind on purpose, they didn’t. And it’s the problem with getting any sort of technology working that they can’t reach me, that’s all it is.” he picked the bags again, heading upstairs, feeling bad enough he still hadn’t noticed the small red dot on the bat computer screen that was otherwise blank.

A voice came from upstairs and he froze, eyes narrowing as he put his things to the side and walked to a manual crawl space to get out of the cave and ended up in the floor of the main manor. He crawled to one the passages in the walls and found a peep hole, watching for a moment. His eyes went wide. Penguin working with Riddler? That had never happened before, but then hearing their conversation,  _ Wayne Manor had never actually been totally empty before either _ . He listened some more as he got his breathing under control, and listened to their conversation. They’d also seen Joker wanting to raid the house, needing some cach for his latest endeavor, but they’d kicked him out though they still suspected he’d return, and Riddler mentioned he heard rumors about Scarecrow coming up with a new fear toxin. Damian narrowed his eyes and slipped through the halls until he could sneak through the manor to the rooms and he’d never gotten his pets in one room so quickly or silently in his life. They were hiding in his room for now, but Damian was hitting his forehead, trying to think. “Now of all times to succumb to human biological weakness, damn this.” he took a deep breath and sat down and thought until he snapped his fingers. “When you must defend with very few, traps will do you well. Trickery and lies were my life, so I will scare them off by using that.” he grinned. Wayne Manor would be the perfect place to booby trap with the batcave right below it. And he glanced around, they’d be of use too, so one by one got the animal out and into hiding spots before he made his move around the arguing four villains in his home while setting up traps not even his Father would notice until it was too late.

Nails on stairs in just the right place not to be noticed made its first appearance as he hid around the corner, Joker pulled his foot off and was jumping in place and swearing up a storm, grin gone. Hearing footsteps approaching, Damian slid under the nearby couch with silent ease and eased into a hidden passageway as Scarecrow got to Joker first. He waited then pulled the mice from his pocket and whispered to them as the other two psycho’s converged on the scene, drenched in paint, Pamela ran towards where he’d hidden Lune and Harley moved and nibbled on a hidden wire. Damian slipped away unnoced and he grit his teeth at how difficult it suddenly was to climb into the dining room chandeliers without them shaking a bunch, but he managed it. How he waited and then hit the lights in the room easily with a thrown ball that came to join the others on the floor. “My foot got impaled, I’m pissed Penguin, don’t make me-” the Joker got cut off by an incredulous huff. 

“I’m drenched in paint! Do you have any idea how much this suit cost?!”

“Not enough to be complaining about every step of the way PenguIAH!” Scarecrow went down and the others right after him, Damian was pleased to see a huge limp in Joker’s step. ‘ _ That’s what you get for beating Todd to death with a crowbar and then blowing him up.’ _ he thought to himself as Penguin tried to get up and landed with his face right in front of Lune’s now opened eyes. He screeched but the young lion but huge cat in general closed her eyes and slinked just out of normal sight to be noticed in the darkness behind the table where her white fur wouldn't give her away as the fat man scrambled up and tried to say he’d seen glowing eyes.

“You’re seeing things Penguin, let’s just find the money then fight to keep it, winner take all like we agreed.” Riddler sighed, holding his head, exasperated.  _ ‘Now you know how I feel, suffer Riddler.’ _ Damian grinned to himself as they moved on again and he jumped to the next chandelier to get a view of the stairs. He could just see Harley chewing the ropes holding the buckets up. He grinned and jumped down as the first went down, the next ones set up to swing one after another with a small break, now triggered so there was no stopping the paint cans until it stopped. The fist bucket got Riddler in the side of the head, and the second Joker in the nose, which cause him to fall down on Penguin who flailed and took out Scarecrow with his umbrella, sending the other too the floor over the railing as Damian raced passed silently and he skidded around the corner expertly, taking a shortcut outside to the second story. He jogged through to his next trap and heard screams and a thud that must’ve been Batcow waiting. The thud five seconds later confirmed his see-saw catapult had worked just fine. And he didn’t hear another moo so that meant Batcow had gotten away.

Damian was pulling on the rope to hold it until they got close and winced, stumbling as his head pounded particularly hard. “Damn it, not now.” he muttered, pulling harder as they got close to his hiding spot and he got it loose just in time. He waited before yanking on the rope hard and opened two hiding spots behind large pictures and his large three foot boa constrictor out of one and Baheera jumped from the other. The arguing villains turned the corner and froze, so Damian got his silent gun out, the splat balls in it had a strong enough sedative to daze that elephant named Zitka Grayson had brought and now lived at the city zoo, so it would knock out the villains quite well. He aimed and quickly shot the four in the neck as Baheera roared at them and Aame kept them from going back the way they’d come. The villains dropped like flies easily, so Damian came out and tied them up. He got help dragging them down to the regular garage and threw them in the trunk of Todd’s truck and covered them with a blanket. It took a lot of struggle to open the garage door and too long to hot wire the damn thing, but Damian drove to GCPD with them. Within a two minute period he got them out, rolled them onto the concrete in the back of the station with the car just out of security camera field of view and then drove back, heat on full blast the whole way. He got to the main family room before slumping on a couch, feeling bad enough that it was number six on his Top Ten Times I Felt Like Death and Shit had a Baby.

The next time he opened his eyes he was against Batcow’s stomach with Lune curled up to his side and Titus by his legs, but he got up immediately fell to his knees, mind reeling like he was trying to fight the Count Vertigo guy he’d had the displeasure of meeting once. But nonetheless Damian forced himself to his feet and stumbled to the kitchen. He tried to take it slow, but drank three glasses of water and his throat still felt parched, he should eat something but even the thought made his stomach turn painfully. Leaning on the counter he looked out the window to his right and saw the moon was setting, there was something important about that, it was important but he couldn’t place it. He groaned and held his head, sitting against the cupboards. He heard a growl but ignored Titus nudging him and used the dog for support to get up, already feeling a strange chill. A roar, his mind recognized it as Baheera, so he tried to find her, turning to the bing room but shivered at the cold and moved away again. He kept his eyes trained on the floor trying to glare it into obedience and force it to stop spinning, but instead the floor turned black.

* * *

“Stop speeding! This car isn't built for this kind of speed in this kind of weather Jaybird! And it’s Dami, he can take care of himself!”

“Yeah well you saw what Tim’s recording caught, what we saw before we took off, he was flushed and red and swaying in place Dick. The brat’s obviously sick and it’s been hours since then and I know what it feels like to be so sick you don’t even realize that you’re sick enough that someone else would hospitalize you. I’m trying to get us back before he faints somewhere and cracks his head or something. And even if he’s not nearly as sick as I think he is, you fucking hear what he said. He thinks that we enjoyed it without him, was trying to convince himself he was wanted and that it wasn’t on purpose and I’ll be damned if we’re not there with him on christmas eve and christmas and let him believe that like I have for most all of my-” Jason suddenly hit the brakes and Tim screeched. The car slid to a stop just past the black animal that had jumped out of the way and they stared at it. It ran over to the car and the group realized the thing was a large black wild cat, once it was closer it became obvious as a rare black jaguar. It jumped on the hood and their eyes went wide, in the jaguar’s mouth was one of Damian’s favorite sweaters, and there were tears in it. It growled but didn’t let go of it, just jumped off and ran towards the hill and Jason put the car into gear, swerving in the middle of the empty highway and heading towards the front of Wayne Manor instead of towards the batcave. Jason punched it and Tim held onto Bruce and Dick as best he could while in the middle backseat, Alfred in the front passenger with the crazy but insanely good drive that was Jason behind the wheel.

The car slid three more feet sideways when Jason stopped it and they’d already noticed the door was open, but the jaguar walked in, paws on the handle. “It opened the fucking door-oh that better not be another one of Damian’s pets.” Jason grumbled, jumping out with the rest and bolting for the door.

“Looks like it, but it saved us a lot of time by leading us to where Dami is.” Dick replied as they got to the door and got inside. “DAMI?! Damian!” they jogged inside and followed the growling Jaguar to the kitchen. Bruce got there first and froze in the doorway.

“What? Is he ok-holy mother of god is that a fuckin dragon?” Dick breathed, throat tight as it laid on the floor. The jaguar growled at it, a small lion pawing at its wings, but it moved and under it was a flush, panting, and pained looking Damian. It backed off and Bruce darted forwards, pulling the boy into his arms as the dragon perched on the island and the others carefully made their way around the thing almost too big for the space.

“Do we know if the medbay is working? If not Jason’s driving us to the hospital.” Bruce was Batman serious, Tim ran off with Dick as Bruce gathered the boy in his arms and the others stopped when mewls sounded. “How many fucking pets does he have?”

“More than either Master Bruce or I realized.” Alfred huffed, picking up the cat named after him. “Are you watching your own terrors?” the kittens meowed and Damian opened his eyes, but the green orbs were totally unfocused. One of the kittens got really loud, almost as if it knew and he licked his lips.

“Hush Richard.” 

“Hey Damian, you hear me?”

“F-father? Did you enjo-”

“We came back as soon as we could, Dami, once we landed and found out that you weren’t with us we tried to come back but there were no flights to Gotham and the nearest I could get us was this morning. And even then we were moved to land pretty far so it was a long drive.” Bruce sat down and the kittens crawled up as Damian groaned. “Dami you hearing me?”

“Mmm, should’ve stayed. Africa-Timothy stop kneading my chest, and don’t claw me Jason.” he murmured, more focused on the kittens.

“Did he finally use your name Jay?” Dick asked as he and Tim returned. 

“Uh, no, I think he named these kittens after us cause so far there’s Richard, Timothy, and Jason.” the man with a white forelock pointed to each kitten in question.

“Also, don’t think about the conversation from earlier, but how's the med bay?”

“It’s fine, none of it needs wifi, but he’s really sick, I think it’ll be better to put him in his bed and care for him from there, but he’ll need to be wat-”

“Goliath? Go back to the attic, you know-” Damian’s voice trailed off so soft they couldn’t hear it. The dragon trilled deep but crawled sideways out of the kitchen door and the fly of wings suggests ‘Goliath’ headed to the attic.

“Delirious, let’s get him to bed.” Bruce stood and Damian tried to put a hand on his chest, pushing.

“Go . . . go have fun, gotta feed Lune n Baheera.” the black jaguar growled some and head buttied Bruce hard enough he fell down. The cat moved and started wriggling under Damian, who’s half fallen out of Bruce’s arms in the fall.

“So did he seriously name a black jaguar after that leopard from the jungle book?”

“He’s got cats named after us and a dragon named Goliath, I believe it.” Jason shrugged to Dick as Bruce picked up Damian. Baheera growled as Titus and Ace ran over, both had glitter and paint on their fur.

“Why does that worry me?” Bruce asked, eyeing them.

“Yeah, uh, so something happened and I think villains were in the house cause it looks like the aftermath of Home Alone.” Dick gave a small smile. “Some of the traps are even the same, but most of them are his own so I don’t think Dami’s seen it.”

“I bet he’s not, he said Ra’s wasn’t a movie fan.” Bruce rolled his eyes and let the pets follow him, but Jason’s hand on his shoulder stopped him.

“Bruce, let me. When he’s conscious and not delirious I think I need to be there first, it’s better to trust that it’s the truth when the other person knows what you’re feeling.”

Bruce sighed but handed Damian off after a minute, muttering that the conversation wasn’t over. Dick brought the blankets and most of the animals were in Damians room as Jason tucked his little brother fully under the covers once Alfred set up an IV drip and monitor. Once they were alone Jason crawled on the bed and pet Damian’s head while curling against the panting boy’s side. “You don’t always have to take care of yourself Baby Bird, people who love you will come and help you. I know how it feels to feel like you’re losing your mind and feel too hot and cold and that you’re not gonna make it, but my family helped. They didn’t leave me alone and they didn’t leave you alone.” Damian didn’t answer, but Jason kept petting his hair until he looked less pained. “So you guys gonna keep eavesdropping?” he called out louder and grinned when four sets of feet walked away, but laid down next to his little brother and used the ice packs left to try and get his all too high temperature down. “We tried baby bird, we tried really hard to reach you, but all we could do was record what the bat computer saw when it alerted us to motion.” he pet the damp black locks and sighed, laying down to sleep in the early morning and closed his eyes since none had gotten a wink of sleep during the whole time. He wasn’t asleep, woke up everytime Damian thrashed, but he helped calm him each time, whispering the same things.

After some time he had to call Dick in while trying to keep the snarling wildcats away from the thrashing Damian. “He’s having a nightmare, you’re the best at dealing with those and these cats need to leave or calm down, I’ll get the-”

“Down.” Damian’s voice was both weak and faint, but the animals settled at it, backing off.

“He’s really got them trained doesn’t he. He’s in the middle of a nightmare but he knew to tell them to knock it off.” Both were impressed, but Dick started petting Damian’s head and whispering to him, calming the boy who went limp in his bed, chest heaving.

“Go get some sleep and food Jason, I’ve got him.” the young man nodded and headed down, not having realized it was nearly night by now. Jason went back up after two hours, having gotten a fitful nap, a shower, and food, and exchanged quiet words with Alfred and Dick. Damian’s fever had gone down quite a bit, which was good, but he was only partially stirring. “He recovers quickly from ailment, he always had, but I think he’s trying to force himself to recover, and that can’t be good.” Alfred sighed.

“I’ll talk to him when he wakes up and isn’t delirious.” Jason closed the door behind him and sat down in a chair to read a book that he’d brought with him. 

It was late into the night when Damian tried to sit up with a quiet groan. “Hey baby bird, lay back down.”

“Ja-what are you doing back here? Is it area-”

“We came back as soon as we could considering that there were complications at every turn. Good thing we did, you were sick enough we should’ve hospitalized you.” Jason kept his voice quiet, but climbed into bed next to Damian and despite how he scowled and tried to push away, surrendered and shivered against Jason. “The nearest flights landed in New York, this whole things’ been affecting major cities all along the seaboard. And we couldn’t get a message through to you to tell you that we were coming back. But we realized right after we landed that you weren’t with us. We were worried sick Baby Bat.” Jason murmured, petting Damian’s hair.

“You sh-should’ve stayed. In Africa.”

“But we went to Africa for you, you would love the animals. B had a surprise there for you, she’ll be here tomorrow for christmas but right now you gotta rest. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, you’re strong, you'll be mostly better by tomorrow night but you need to relax. Let us take care of you and spend christmas together like we should be doing.” Damian gave up and cuddled totally into Jason.

“Heat will be best, sweat it out.” he smirked.

“hal turid miniy alaitisal brns kwryandr? (Do you want me to call Koriand'r Prince?)” Jason asked carefully, speaking in the league dialect. His only answer was a hum. Jason chuckled but got his small tamaranian communicator out and pressed it. It would call all of the Outlaws, but there were specific signals. It would blink in a specific color depending on who he wanted (he got red, Roy was orange, Artemis was gold, Bizarro was blue). So only Kori answered to the pink blinking of the devices. “Hey Princesa, mind coming to Gotham?” he asked, petting Damian’s hair as he fell halfway into a fitful sleep, squirming because he was both too hot and wracking with cold shivers.

* * *

Things flew by, shifting between darkness and wavering feelings and memories for Damian. He registered that his family had come home, but they kept saying they came back early. It did not make sense why they would leave the africa vacation behind and return simply because of the blackout, but they had. Now though Damian’s head felt less like it was full of cotton, but he was parched. “Drink.” he took the glass from the heat behind him.

“Why are you in Gotham Princess Koriand’r?” Damian asked, frowning a bit after he’d taken a few small sips. He knew better than to gulp the water down all at once.

“You were very sick, my heat has helped you recover quickly. Jason called me and said you’d given your permission for this treatment.” made sense, and it explained why his clothes were more than damp with his sweat. “I am told to tell you that it is Christmas Eve, currently the sun has just set and they all should be eating at the moment.” he blinked, then his brow furrowed in confusion. Wait, right, his family had returned early. “They said that they weren’t sure if you’d remember, but they returned because christmas is apparently a time to be together. They realize you don’t actually celebrate this holiday, or any, but it is the principle.”

“I remember, we have had this conversation before.” his head spun some as he sat up and pulled away, but the alien didn’t follow yet.

“If you are well, the Kent’s invited you to a party at their house tomorrow. But if you’re not well then you will stay home.”

“They can go no matter my state-”

“The point is that they will stay with you Damian. They returned to Gotham as soon as they could for your sake, they want to be together with you. You feel your place in this family threatened, as if you don’t belong. They are making sure in every way they can that you know they would never purposefully leave you out of something.” the words struck something in him and Damian sniffled, blaming it on his congestion. She put her hand on his chest and he relaxed into the touch slightly, the heat held ease his rattling breaths. He’d be fine within 24 hours, he always was. Thus he got up, then gasped and moved faster than he should. 

Koriand’r caught him, he pushed her away though. “I am fine, but my-”

‘Your animals are in the barn that Titus showed them. It’s heated and they’re being fed to the best of the family’s ability. Your pets have been a surprise to them.” Damian rolled his eyes. That was the point, none of them deserved to be in a place like a Zoo, so they stayed at the manor. Well hidden by himself. “All are there but for the kittens named after your brother and the creature called a chinchilla. The chinchilla has taken quickly to Dick, and the kittens were not allowed to leave Alfred’s room, this was decided by Alfred the cat.” Damian smirked, he wondered if that would be the case. He took it slower this time, Koriand’r following him. He’d have checked on them in Alfred’s room, but as of right now he heard the sounds that was obviously his family playing with the kittens.

It was a surprise to hear both Brown and Gordon as well, but they seemed to be present and cooing over them. “Ow! Little Timmy clawed me.” Damian rolled his eyes.

“Timothy does not claw.” he grumbled, moving to the doorway. Grayson shot up but the mewling kittens ran for Damian, who moved closer as Grayson sat down and smiled at Damian who pet the kittens. He picked up Stephanie though, looking her in the eye “I expect better from you Stephanie.” she mewled guiltily and he couldn’t stay mad at her.

“So are you gonna introduce us to your zoo Dami?” Grayson asked.

“This is Richard, Jason, Timothy, STephanie, and Cassandra.” they beamed at the kittens named after him. “How many of my animals did you see?”

“All of them I believe.” Damian sighed, of course.

“Then the white lion cub is Lune, the black jaguar is Baheera. Along with Alfred they are all the felines.”

“And the giant red dragon thing?” Todd raised an eyebrow at Damian as Jason hissed at the man, Damian smirked proudly and pet the kitten who purred at the praise.

“That would be Goliath, he is a dragon-bat.”

“Ok, so how about the giant snake I found in my room?” Drake did not like reptiles, it was his own fault for returning early.

“That is Ayame-” Damian paused, then picked up Timothy and Cassandra. “Go find Harleen and Pamela.” they licked their mouths but he put them down and watched then run from the room, Alfred following behind. “They are my two mice, and the chinchilla who is currently hiding in Grayson’s jacket is Baby Girl. she is traumatized and experiences very bad separation anxiety so you had best treat her well Grayson, or else I shall disown you.” the man cracked a grin, but looked to Father, who nodded.

“Damian, go put on Tim’s old parka, you’re still sick but I want you to see what was supposed to be your christmas present.” he nodded and let Grayson help him out of his nightgown into thermal pants and a long shirt, then came the parka. The rest of the family was at the main door, all but Todd.

“Has Todd run again?”

“Nah, he’s getting her.” Grayson’s voice sounded as a scarf fell in front of Damian’s eyes. “Blindfold non-negotiable.” he grumbled but allowed the treatment. Cain grabbed his hands though and led him away towards the outside carefully. The snow crunched under his foot and his heart jumped at Todd’s quiet murmurs and a snuffling sound. The blindfold got pulled off and he nearly gasped out loud.

“She’s still young and she’s certainly not ready to be ridden, but she’s unnamed and we figured you’d want a hand in her training.” Father said. Damian was in awe, of course Father had such good-he whipped around, eyes narrowed.

“Father you have terrible taste in any sort of adoption, these cretains are proof of that.” his family blanched, but also laughed. Father relented.

“Jason picked her out, called her a beauty and said she had to be the one.” Damian smirked proudly, he knew his Father hadn’t picked her. After all the only animal he’d ever gotten was Ace and Ace was taken from the same alley Todd was.

“She’s a mix of two purebreds, sire was a friesian and her dam was a tennessee walker. I’ve trotted her around before, she’s gonna have her dam’s running walk. She was weaned at 5 months and is a month older than a yearling, I have her exact date of birth on the card, wherever Dickie put it.” Todd smirked proudly as Damian came over and took the carrot handed to him, offering it to the carious filly who snuffled his hands after taking the carrot. She took to licking his hands and nipping the coat as he smiled. She really was gorgeous, he was sure she’d be a gorgeous mix of the two breeds once she was grown. Nearly black with the faintest blue sheen. So her dam must’ve been a blue roan then, but she had two tall white stockings on her hind legs. And there were a few strands of white scattered through her mane and tail that were gorgeous, giving them almost a shimmering sparkle.

“You have surprisingly good taste in horses Todd. It’s an admirable trait.”

“Thanks baby bat.”

“So what’re you gonna name her?” Gordon asked from behind him.

“Her sire is called Bright Love and her dam is Jen Ten.” Damian blinked and furrowed his brow. “Yes, she was named after Ben Ten, her dam’s owner was a freakin nerd.” Damian rolled his eyes as looked at the filly’s eyes.

“I would normally take her Dam and Sire’s names into consideration, but I believe that Night Flier will be much more appropriate then either of those.” he hummed. Then shook with half a shiver as he sneezed and stepped back. His sneezes were never violent, so it didn’t scare the yearling, but he was annoyed because people cooed whenever he sneezed. They called it a ‘kitten sneeze’ and he was most certainly not cute, but Night Flier tried to move forwards, concerned at the strange noise he’d made. “I am alright.”

“Back inside now then young master, you might fight off sickness quickly but you need to rest still if you’re to be fit for the party tomorrow evening.” he nodded at Pennyworth’s words, no one argues with him. Thus they headed inside as Night Flier was taken to the barn with the rest of his pets. Well, most of them. Cassandra and Timothy had found Harleen and Pamela, who were quite concerned at being carried by two kittens. “Well done you two.” he took the mice, but Father took them and moved him into Grayson’s side. He fell asleep against Koriand’r’s warmth once more while an old christmas claymation movie about a reindeer called Rudolph and an elf named Hermey who wanted to be a dentist played in the family theater room.

* * *

Sure enough, as Damian had expected, he hardly had the sniffles by the next afternoon. And much to his immense pleasure, he was allowed to bring the kittens, Alfred (to help watch them, he rarely left the kittens alone now), and Night Flier. They took a small trailer for Night Flier and the basket Damian had for the kittens (he’d bought it when he first found them to get them out of the musty broken box. It was a simple one, a wide wicker picnic basket that he’d lined with a nice red wool since they were still so young and needed the warmth) and headed for the Kent farm. Damian was rather proud as Kent cooed and awwed over his pets, and had been in awe of how beautiful Night Flier was. He smirked with pride, for they were all worthy of such praise.

“Can I help you train her?!” Kent gasped, eyes sparkling. “I can ride and we’ve got a couple horses in the area. Mom and Dad don’t have any but our neighbors let us ride theirs basically whenever we want so I can help!” he was floating slightly in his excitement as Damian held Night Flier’s lead and had Richards in the crook of one arm under his parka.

“I believe that might be acceptable, but you will have to do plenty of your own training with me in order to earn that right.” he huffed, and Kent threw his hands in the air in triumph, but Damian let a tiny smile pick at the corner of his lips. He knew those stupid insecurities of his had been unfounded, unlike the league, his family actually wanted and cared about him for more than what he proved to be worth. To them he was as priceless as his animals were to him, he held them both closer. Yes, Damian thought, as Kent half flew inside to tell his parents and by proxy Damian’s family the good news, for however little he cared about this holiday, it was a good one.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Holidays, get some sleep (I say like a freakin hypocrite)


End file.
